Village of Hope
Built on 3 1/2 acres and located in Parramos, Guatemala (twenty minutes outside of La Antigua Guatemala) Semillas de Amor provides a clean, healthy, and loving home for 12 orphaned and abandoned children.
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Semillas de Amor’s mission is to raise and educate thoughtful, compassionate leaders with excellent critical thinking skills and a commitment to social justice and civic responsibility. We focus on character and academic excellence in a creative, safe and nurturing environment.
Our children, both boys and girls, range in age from 8-17 years. Most of our children attend an international school that has an excellent academic program. Academics are essential, however the children’s social environment is equally important. Our children are being prepared to attend a university outside of Guatemala on scholarship. This is why it is so important for our kids to speak English and receive an excellent education as well as improving their social skills. It is essential that our children have the opportunity to follow their dreams and to be the best people they can be.
Currently our children are involved in after school tutoring, swim classes and swim meets, clarinet, guitar, piano and art classes as well as pet therapy. Our six dogs, 4 of them rescues from the streets of Guatemala, nurture our children’s emotional development and enhance their quality of life as well as teach our children responsibility.
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Even though our children are orphans, at Semillas de Amor we believe it is important for our children to learn to give back and not just receive. Our children have given back through community outreach programs, environment activities, and supporting each other for success. To say we are very proud of who these kids are and who they are becoming is an understatement. This success would be impossible without our awesome donors.
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Regardless of what path our children take, to study at the university or vocational training the children at Semillas de Amor will always have a home to return to. We will always be available to counsel, love and nurture our childVillage of Hope is located in San Lucas, Guatemala. The vision for Village of Hope was born out the knowledge that God has a heart for the least of these.
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Scripture reveals a God who is passionate about the sick, the widow, the orphan, the alien, and the poor.
“You must be compassionate, just as your Father is compassionate” Luke 6:36
Behind every ministry is a God story. A story of how somewhere along the way the Lord spoke it into fruition and His people obeyed. Here is our story.
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At the age of 30 and 32 Todd and I found themselves living the dream. Big house, nice cars, climbing the corporate ladder. We had 4 biological children who were in sports, lessons popular amongst their peers. And then one day someone invited us to church where we heard the gospel for the first time, and everything changed.
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Over the course of the next few years we began to grow in our faith. Through that time the Lord would lead us down the road of adoption. Over the course of the next 7 years our family would grow- bringing home 5 more children through the miracle of adoption. Two from Guatemala, two from the Texas Foster system and one from Ethiopia. Each with a God story that would take your breath away. Each with a purpose, each making the American dream dim in comparison.
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Fast forward a few more years and the Lord would once again place the orphan on our hearts. Only this time He didn’t ask us to bring a child home- He asked them to GO- to them. In 2011 we moved our family onto the mission field in Guatemala. It was not something we had ever dreamed of- but the Lords voice was clear so we stepped out in faith, gave away all of our belongings, leaving behind all we had ever known and stepped into the unknown. It was there we began to really understand God in a new way. We began to learn that God doesn’t want someone qualified or someone perfect- He just wants someone willing. Willing to love the way He loves. Willing to take risks on those he cares about. Willing to love them the way they are. For the first time God allowed us the privilege to stop and truly see- and in doing so-to see Him. To see Him more clearly than we ever had in their lives.
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Village of Hope opened it’s doors in 2012 and has served countless numbers of hurting children, pointing them to their Savior while giving them Faith, Family and a Future in family style care. The profile of children Village of Hope serves are adolescent mothers, children who have been sex trafficked, children with various special needs and those who have been rescued from abuse and neglect.
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I once heard someone say the only thing worse than being lost- is being lost and knowing there is no one looking for you. As the body of Christ we believe the Lord is asking each and every one of us to open our eyes and look. Look around us- and ACT. Don’t become so consumed with your own Kingdom that you forget about His. There is a moment you cross as a believer where you don’t just share the gospel anymore- you ARE the gospel.
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There are over 165 million abandoned, neglected, orphaned children in the world today. If they held hands the line would circle the earth three times. Yet we don’t want you to let the size of this number overwhelm you. Because the truth is-ultimately the most important statistic is that it only takes ONE person to make a difference because we are their family.
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Contact Info:
Website: https://villageofhopeguatemala.com/
Email: info@valleyoftheangelsorphanage.com
Telephone Guatemala: +502-4546-14582
​What if children didn't have to be in orphanages?
James 1:27 calls Christians to care for orphans and widows in their distress, emphasizing the responsibility to protect and care for the most vulnerable among us.
Yet, in countries like Guatemala, most children placed in orphanages are there not because they are orphaned but because of poverty, neglect, or abuse.
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What is there was a better way?
Best Practices in Orphan Care
Are you interested in serving orphans? Do you want to work in an orphanage? Do feel called to serve the most vulnerable?If the answer to any of those questions is yes, then you should read our Orphan Care Partnership Guidelines before partnering with an organization.
Asking these simple questions now will give you a better understanding on what to look for in a partnership, evaluate your potential partner and save you from entering into a situation that you might regret later.
Fill out the form to receive an email with everything you need to consider for a fruitful partnership.